COMMENTARY
The JEE conundrum revisited: a time for course correction
Anurag Mehra
The current status of the problems and
challenges facing the system of admis-
sion to the undergraduate programmes in
centrally funded science and technology
institutions is discussed with respect to
the reforms that this system was subjected
to in 20122013, and the suggestions
contained in the recent report of the
Committee of Eminent Persons (CEP) 1.
The consequences of the changes that were
implemented are assessed especially in the
context of an earlier, detailed article 2.
In 2010, the Kapil Sibal-led Ministry
of Human Resource Development
(MHRD), Government of India (GoI) at-
tempted to reform the Joint Entrance
Examination (JEE) system which is the
gateway to the prestigious Indian Insti-
tutes of Technology (IITs), and some
other top tier institutions, for their under-
graduate programmes. The proposed
changes involved the imposition of a
single, country-wide entrance examination
for admission to all undergraduate pro-
grammes and the inclusion of marks
obtained in the board examinations of
class 12, into the student ranking criteria
used for making admission merit lists.
The ostensible reasons for these reforms
were a reduction in stress that students
feel in appearing for multiple admission
tests, and also that giving importance to
board examinations would lead to a sup-
pression of the pernicious hold that
coaching classes have over the entrance
examinations, because classes in schools
would now become important. While pro-
posing these changes there was all sorts
of political posturing3 as to how the new
admission scheme would help students
from rural areas, poorer socio-economic
backgrounds and girl students because
they could not afford costly coaching.
In the debates that arose around these
proposals, it was pointed out that the logic
relating to cause and effect in these pro-
positions was flawed because of many
reasons: there were no ground data to
support the claim that students wanted
fewer examinations or that stress was
due to the number of examinations, and
not because of the absolute scarcity of
seats. There was a remarkable inability
to observe by the proponents of these re-
forms, that inclusion of board examina-
18
tion marks would not lessen the
influence of coaching classes but do the
opposite by extending the coaching to
school material as well. These issues
were analysed in great detail in 2012
(ref. 2).
A status report
What finally came to be implemented in
2013 was that the existing All India En-
gineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE)
was renamed as JEE (Main) and the IIT
JEE was renamed JEE (Advanced).
Admission to all Central Government-
funded institutions (CFTIs), other than
the IITs, i.e. National Institute of Tech-
nology (NITs) and some others, was to
be made on the basis of a score obtained
by combining the marks obtained in JEE
(Main) with 60% weightage, and
normalized board marks with 40%
weightage (the normalization details may
be found in ref. 4). The IITs escaped be-
ing subjected to inclusion of board marks
because of sustained opposition from their
faculty, who were unwilling to let go the
control of JEE (Advanced) and which is
still the sole criterion for admission to
the IITs. Thus, the IITs saved themselves
from any imposition, but the NITs
became the testbeds for trying out whim-
sical policy experiments.
States do not agree: more confusion
and more stress
Not all states joined the single examina-
tion bandwagon and continue to conduct
their own Combined Entrance Test (CET).
Here is a sampling Karnataka 5, Bihar 6,
Telangana 7 and Tamil Nadu8; a bigger
list may be found in ref. 9. Maharashtra
has declared its intention to secede from
the JEE (Main) 10 creating ample stu-
dent stress 11 and the official reasons
given are illuminating, namely, eliminat-
ing coaching costs for JEE (Main) which
is based on Central Board of Education
(CBSE) syllabus (whereas CET is based
on Maharashtra board syllabus, so no
extra coaching is needed for a different
system), getting rid of the need to cope
with the vast CBSE syllabus (compared
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 110, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2016
to the less ambitious Maharashtra
board syllabus), obviating the need for
focusing simultaneously on board exams
and JEE (Main), and creating a common
physics and chemistry paper if the CET
is combined with that for medical
college aspirants. So, as is obvious from
this logic, a significant number of stu-
dents are comfortable with the local
board ecosystem and would not like to
venture to study a different (more vast)
syllabus for reasons of cost (coaching)
and duplication of effort (board and
JEE).
Invasion of the coaching industry
Coaching classes have invaded the school
system. Integrated schools that com-
bine teaching for boards and for the
JEE now operate openly and respecta-
bly, despite all the frowning by some
boards in not permitting such an ar-
rangement; see a circular from CBSE12
and reports of how it was flouted open-
ly13. In fact, these schools are now most
sought after by aspirants and coaching
classes display lists of collaborating in-
stitutions some quite reputed very
proudly14, and willing participants are
from all kinds of boards central and
state. Coaching package costs have
soared, more than doubled for integrated
packages and the figures now hover be-
tween Rs 5 and 8 lakhs for a 2-year
course, depending upon the reputation of
the school and the coaching class. It is
not as if this was not anticipated; it was
stated quite plainly, with evidence, be-
fore that, this new importance of board
examinations will drive students into the
clutches of coaching classes even more
intensely and desperately. A classic
case of the cure being worse than the dis-
ease 2. There is no change in the intrinsic
quality of the schools themselves the
strategy is, if you cant beat them join
them. Reports have appeared regularly and
frequently, with rich details of increasing
enrollments and escalating costs with
respect to coaching institutions 1517.
The JEE continues to be based on the
multiple choice questions (MCQ) pattern
which is most susceptible to coaching.

This is what makes coaching classes so
effective and attractive to customers. committee deliberations (note 1). This
The MCQ pattern encourages a certain
brute force, pattern recognition type of
approach and even tricks, much of these
being responsible for the disconnect be-
tween conceptual learning and examina-
tion cracking ability. Serious advice on
how to crack the JEE examination (in
addition to speed practice) shows how
problems are to be approached using a
combination of guesswork, gambling, ea-
siest topics suggestions, topic to avoid
lists, order in which to attempt, what to
memorize, and some more intelligent
techniques 18.
And, finally, those who can are escap-
ing this system. We now have brain drain
at the school exit level 19, with even the
middle class now seeking admission
abroad, for their children.
Normalization games and unsolved
mysteries
It was mentioned earlier 2, that board
marks, at least for some boards, do not
have the kind of integrity needed for
these to be used in making merit lists.
Have the central and state governments
taken any measures to curb examination
malpractices? This very contemporary
and iconic picture20, and the statements in
its aftermath 21, say a lot about how we,
as a society, treat ethical issues.
The other issue that had been flagged
was whether the marks obtained in board
examinations can be compared across
boards (and hence can be normalized) 2.
School boards can be utterly different
from each other in every possible way:
coverage of the syllabus; style of instruc-
tion and examination; the relative em-
phasis on quantitative, qualitative and
descriptive material; marks distribution
shapes, and more. Therefore, elementary
statistics theory would suggest that such
comparisons are meaningless. The issue
of normalization of board marks thus
continues to baffle many and create in-
tense heartburn 22, simply through the ty-
ranny of artificially generated numbers.
It may be recalled that the Indian Statis-
tical Institute Kolkatta (ISI) distanced it-
self from the scheme that is being used
for generating the admissions merit list 23.
So pained was ISI with this fiasco that
you can find this whole story with a
frame-by-frame storyboard on their web-
site 24; it fearlessly lays out the subver-
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 110, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2016
sions that have affected various
notions.
should also remind us of the U-turn that
the Ramasami committee made in reach-
ing its final conclusions2. To the advice
given by ISI25, Since the subject scores
do not appear to be comparable, the
question of combining them for compara-
bility of aggregate scores across the
boards does not arise, Ramasami went on
to famously remark26, We are very clear
that what we have done is fine. We dont
have to accept what the experts recom-
mended. What they say does not become
law. Such irrationality has still not been one is left to wonder which school boards
called into account.
Even more importantly, and expect-
edly, some school boards, to add heft to
their social standing, are caught up in a
ridiculous war leading to incredibly in-
flated board examination scores. Grade
inflation and liberal marking are now the
order of the day with toppers getting
aggregates of 99% plus, and the number
of students obtaining such scores in-
creasing drastically. For instance, this
year the central boards toppers scores
were 99.75% (ISC)27 and 99.2% (CBSE)28,
with state boards also getting onto the
95-plus bandwagon: Maharashtra HSC
topper with 96.92% (ref. 29), Tamil Na-
du with 99.33% (ref. 30). The bunching
of so many students in the high marks
territory will render any percentile-based
scheme, to allot ranks using statistically
insignificant differences between neigh-
bouring students, largely meaningless. The
ridiculousness of the situation is captured
well in these pieces 31,32.
The CEP report
Board marks
Mercifully, the CEP report has recom-
mended eliminating the weightage given
to board examination marks for creating
admission merit lists. The stated reasons 1
for this recommendation are a general
belief that students are going for coach-
ing for Board exams also (why does it
have to be a belief; it should have been
possible for the institutions or the minis-
try to get some real numbers), and diffi-
culties in normalization but was that
not rather obvious when the whole story
began? There was enough evidence
that the normalization of board marks,
and its inclusion in the admission
scheme, was based on half-baked, ad-hoc,
COMMENTARY
and surreptitiously planted statistical
Coaching classes
The report also delves into reasons why
coaching is undesirable but seems to have
a very naive understanding about the way
coaching is embedded into the education
ecosystem. Their first objection is that
the purpose of education is refinement
of the mind not passing an entrance ex-
amination. While that sounds profound,
actually promote refinement of the mind
when numerous critiques of the Indian
education system specifically point to
rote and uncreative learning as being the
very essence of Indian school peda-
gogy33. So when every education agen-
cys purpose seems to be to teach the
art of cracking an examination, coaching
classes win hands down since they seem
to do a much better job of it.
The report also mentions that the stu-
dents are forced to waste a lot time
commuting in order to avail the benefit
of good coaching. Of course, we do
not know the basis of this concern.
Commuting, one would surmise, would
be pass in the age of coaching towns,
coaching centers parading as schools and
respected integrated schools.
In order to reduce the influence of
coaching classes on the admission process,
it has been suggested that, an online por-
tal be set up for students to take mock
tests while preparing for the JEE. The
Corporates and the Government can use
the services of good schools as well as
good coaching institutes themselves to
set up online coaching classes with inter-
activity (emphasis mine). However, this
makes no sense because there are so
many portals and mock examinations (free
and paid) already available over on the
web. Also, which Corporates is this
statement referring to? Will the govern-
ment set up these portals? If good coach-
ing institutes were to set up these portals
then are we eliminating coaching classes
or legitimizing them? There is more con-
fusion than instruction in this recom-
mendation. Ultimately, mock examination
portals will not reduce coaching. This is
too simplistic an assumption. Students go
to coaching classes to be taught by good
teachers, have access to large problem
banks, a disciplined regimen, and so on,
not just for practicing mock examinations.
19
COMMENTARY
Another recommendation concerns the
setting up of a regulatory body that over-
sees coaching classes. They have even
given it a nice name All India Council
for Coaching for Entrance Examinations
(AICCEE), whose job will be to demand
that Coaching Institutes are well equipped
and maintain healthy and best practices
as well as charge regulated fees. Whe-
reas this is a welcome measure given
the cruel environment of the coaching
class and the rising rates of suicides3436
it is still a tall order. Even if one were to
generously assume that somehow a typi-
cal state regulatory authority could be
established against the financial clout
of the coaching industry what kind of
best practices would it really enforce?
Ironically, MHRD itself has declined to
do any regulation in the past, passing the
issue off as the respective state govern-
ments concern37. The hardest thing is to
regulate the fee because it is what makes
the industry so lucrative. As usual, the
report just makes the suggestion, without
raising any of the issues and the meas-
ures that would be needed to implement
this.
The aptitude test and national testing
service: old wine in a new bottle
The seemingly most important CEP rec-
ommendation, to curb the coaching class
dependence, is about conducting an apti-
tude test that will serve as a filter to limit
a single JEE examination to the top
4 lakh students. The summary recom-
mendation is 1, A National Testing Ser-
vice shall be set up by early 2016,
mandated to conduct an Aptitude Test,
which should test the scientific aptitude
and innovative thinking ability. The Ap-
titude test may be offered 2 or more
times in a year and would be an online
test. The testing shall test the scientific
thinking and cannot be gamed through
coaching. The idea of an aptitude test
was also debated in 20122013, at the
time of the previous reforms, but then
finally dropped. The same argument, that
it would measure raw intelligence, was
suggested by the Ramasami committee as
well and it was also stated that such an
aptitude test would be un-coachable! So
what is new? The un-coachable attribute
of this examination sounds almost magi-
cal. It would be fantastic if we could just
declare an examination as coaching-
proof and it became so. For that matter
20
why not declare that the JEE itself can-
not be gamed through coaching! There
is no reason or design plan, presented in
the report, that will make this examina-
tion as being coaching-proof. The plain
truth is that there is no such thing as an
examination that cannot be coached for.
Even the American Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT) has dedicated coaching classes
available. If these are not advertized as
much it is because the number of stu-
dents who have an interest in pursuing
studies abroad is far too small compared
to the numbers who have an interest in
the Indian entrance examinations like the
JEE. However, SAT is an eminently
coachable examination and in fact often
the same coaching institutions that pro-
vide coaching for the JEE do so for SAT
as well 38.
Next, the faith of the CEP in the SAT
examination is touching. Statements like,
It is believed that the SAT examination
is a very good measure of the aptitude of
students that get into leading universities
and institutes in USA. SAT is very well
tried and tested system and has shown
excellent correlation with the ability of
students to succeed in college. It is also
believed that coaching does not have a
significant role in the performance of
students in the SAT examination are
wrong on facts, and this is discussed be-
low. The committee should have done at
least an elementary literature search
before making such sweeping statements.
There are two types of SAT examina-
tions, namely, SAT I or the aptitude/
reasoning SAT and SAT II or the subject
SATs which test achievement in specific
domains (like English, Mathematics, Phys-
ics, etc.). It can be safely presumed that
the CEP report is referring to the first
type which will apparently test the sci-
entific thinking. Contrary to the be-
liefs stated above, the SAT I is a much
criticized examination in that it is based
on the measurement of a discredited
notion of innate mental abilities. And I
cite from my previous article 2, There is ing classes. However, in saying this it
voluminous literature on this issue, rang-
ing from the philosophical 10 to specific
analysis related to their use in college
admissions: Coleman 11 reports that a
large number of colleges in the United
States do not use SAT1 (SAT1 is rea-
soning SAT) for college admissions.
Freedle 12 argues that SAT1 is culturally
and statistically biased against African
Americans, Hispanic Americans, and
Asian Americans. The extent to which
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 110, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2016
SAT1 limits access, of racial and ethnic
minorities in USA, to college education
has been explored by Zwick 13. In her
book, Zwick14, cites a University of Cali-
fornia study which concludes that student
scores in SAT2 (subject SAT) correlate
much better with college grades than
SAT1. This study also suggests that the
SAT2 score is much less influenced by
the socio-economic background of the
student, in comparison to the SAT1
score. If we extend these observations to
apply broadly to disadvantaged groups,
based on class, caste or gender, in India,
it is obvious that the aptitude test should
not be instituted at all. Yet again, the
stated concern about bridging gender and
the urbanrural divides, will be accentu-
ated by the proposed solutions (note 2).
Here are the actual statistics 39 The UC
data show that high school grades plus
the SAT II account for about 21% of the
explained variance in first-year college
grades. When the SAT I is added to high
school grades and the SAT II, the
explained variance increases from 21%
to 21.1%, a trivial increment. So it needs
to be asked again, why should the current
JEE (Main) be replaced by the proposed
SAT I-like aptitude test, as the first filter
to access the final JEE (Advanced)?
Lastly, why do we need a new Na-
tional Testing Service (NTS)? Can CBSE
not administer tests? What about the Na-
tional Council of Educational Research
and Training (NCERT) which adminis-
tered the National Talent Search exami-
nations which tested basic science
knowledge after grade 10 and 12? Is it
always necessary to create a new agency
and its bureaucratic paraphernalia to solve
an old problem?
School education
The CEP report 1 harps intermittently on
the need to improve school education in
order to combat the influence of coach-
simply dwells on the obvious, making
generally trite statements that have no
actionable components or are marred by
vague wordings. And there is no accom-
panying social or historical context. For
instance 1, best addressed by provid-
ing excellent facilities to school teachers
including paying them well. Nationally
we emphasize the importance of charac-
ter building in education and the need to
respect teacher socially. Of course, in

order to be effective, this should be put
in practice, especially for those who
preach. Who will pay (well) teachers?
In which schools? The call to those who
preach is addressed to whom: school
administrators, the ministry that funds
public schools or political parties?
Another recommendation says, that
MHRD should take steps to improve the
School education in the country. It
should be of such a level that the need
for coaching becomes redundant. MHRD
can start with the reforms in the CBSE as
this is directly controlled by MHRD.
The question to ask is, if coaching is
needed because the level of CBSE syl-
labus is too low or if the JEE is deliber-
ately made tough to be an elimination
examination? So one does not even know
what is being talked about. From an emi-
nent committee it would be expected that
some detailed suggestions would be
made as to how to go about improve the
school education and what kind of num-
bers in terms of schools, students,
money, time are involved, why, what
has been done in the past, has failed.
The bigger picture: who needs
science and engineering
The CEP report generously says, Cur-
rently, the desire of students to get into
an IIT is too intense as there is a big gap
in quality between them and the next
level of institutions in the country. It is,
therefore, imperative that the standard of
the next level institutions NITs, other
CFTIs and State level institutions, be in-
creased as soon as possible. This will
greatly reduce the dependence of coach-
ing institutions in the country. In his con-
text, there is a dire need to improve the
standards of the state-level institutions,
many of which were still respectable just
four decades ago. The apparent logic of
this suggestion is that the scarcity factor
will be ameliorated since students will
now aspire to go to these much improved
versions of existing lower level col-
leges (that were still respectable four
decades ago?!). The government is do-
ing much better than that already by
setting up new institutions of the highest
level the IITs. It is of course not clear
how this rejuvenation of the next level
institutions will happen, nor does the
committee shed any light on it, given the
severe faculty shortages in even in the
established IITs 40, the difficulties in find-
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 110, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2016
ing faculty for the new IITs, and the re-
cent diversion of regular funds from
existing institutions to the newer ones 41. medies to rejuvenate school education, in
Even more importantly, committees of
this stature should also provide direc-
tions about the number of science and
engineering seats that are really needed
in the IITs and the next level institu- tantly, an action plan. The importance of
tions, given the lack of sufficient engi-
neering jobs available and the distortions
that this scenario wrecks on the internal
functioning of the institutions 42. What is
the point of spending so much public
money to create so many engineers, a
majority of whom opt for non-engineer-
ing professions? The CEP would have
been the right forum to have debated
these questions given its mandate of re-
designing the admissions system, so this
is indeed a missed opportunity.
What more should we do
In the immediate term, redesign in elimi-
nating or at least drastically reducing
MCQ questions from the entrance tests is
urgently needed. This question-answer
format is the most coachable. This sin-
gle measure alone will destroy a signifi-
cant amount of gaming and pattern-
recognition based coaching. The question
of eliminating MCQ pattern in the first,
filter examination (JEE Main) is more
difficult because of its scale but some
creative committees should work on hy-
brid questions which need working like
long questions but can still be machine
evaluated.
From the big picture perspective, the
most important action item is to get a feel
for the student mind and the ground real-
ity that provides its social context. It is
therefore of utmost importance that the
most significant stakeholders, namely,
the students graduating from the school
system, in whose name and interest all
these systems are made and changed, are
surveyed in large numbers. I reiterate 2
that such an exercise must be undertaken
to obtain invaluable field data and help
map a variety of patterns what is wrong
with schools: quality of teaching, sylla-
bus, evaluation modes, rote versus creative
learning, the strengths and weaknesses of
private versus public schools; the need
for coaching, costs and social anxieties
of the admission process, and so on. We
still do not know what are the most
stressful factors that affect students in
this phase of life. The need of the hour is
COMMENTARY
to demand a task force that conducts
these surveys and presents detailed re-
mission mode where do we stand in
terms of the numbers and status of school
teachers, infrastructure and funding re-
quirements of this sector, and impor-
educational reforms cannot be overem-
phasized and are needed with an urgency
even greater than economic reforms 43
because we seem to be manufacturing in-
competence on a grand scale.
Reported social biases 4446, like, why
some boards do better than others in
terms of more of their students getting
admissions, or that urban, rich students
faring relatively better in admission out-
comes, and measures needed to encour-
age gender parity, remain unaddressed
and urgently deserve attention.
Any new design of an admission
scheme into science and engineering
undergraduate programmes including
whether there should be one or two
examinations - should be based on what
we learn from the above exercises. The
design process must be truly consultative
and involve institutional faculty as key
stakeholders in these decisions. Past de-
cision making has usually been marred
by lack of sincerity of purpose, and a
certain caving in by institutional leaders
to political whims and this has often
caused much resentment 47. Whimsical
and frequent tinkering with the admis-
sions system only ends up creating more
opportunities for coaching classes to step
in as solution providers to the latest
twist in the admission process 36, and
launch newer schemes and packages!
Rationally, the implementation of any
new admission scheme must be slow and
spread over a few years so that all boards
reach a certain critical level of integrity
and similarity in terms of the science,
mathematics syllabi, teaching and examin-
ing styles something that was recom-
mended earlier 2. Is it so hard to sell the
idea of a universal curricula in science
and mathematics, to state governments?
This surely must count as true national
interest. Only such an approach will
result in some synchrony between the
different examination boards, most cru-
cially the state boards, who may then be
willing to abandon their own admission
tests. The question of whether to include
board marks, or, alternatively, eliminate
the entrance examinations, should come
after the cleanup. The new system should
21
COMMENTARY
greet a well trained generation of students
who are familiar with a new pedagogy.
The government and policy makers
need to chart out an economic and indus-
trial agenda that makes engineering edu-
cation relevant by providing well paid,
globally competitive jobs that can absorb
engineers from the IITs. Only this can
spur the zest and excitement for learning
in our campuses. That the IITs remain
the most sought after institutions in the
country should not engender a naive pub-
lic view that students (and society) love
engineering and that these premier insti-
tutes of learning are producing engineers
who are driving the progress of the coun-
try. The reality is that the IITs are simply
places which dominantly provide access
to a hefty pay-package or a ticket to for-
eign shores, very likely, and tragically,
without much connect with engineering
or science.
Notes
1. Some excerpts, selected from the rather
extensive documentation available on the
ISI website, may be found here: http://
www.che.iitb.ac.in/faculty/am/Public/JEE_
2015/ISI_excerpts.html
2. Details of references cited in this quote may
be read from the reference list in ref. 2.
1. http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/
files/upload_document/Report-of-
Committee.pdf
2. http://www.currentscience.ac.in/Volumes/
103/01/0029.pdf
3. http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/india/fac
e-the-nation-sibal-transcript-483508.html
4. http://www.cbse.nic.in/attach/Normaliza-
tion%20Formula_2013.pdf
5. http://www.karnataka.com/education/
exam-dates-cet/
6. http://admission.aglasem.com/bcece/
7. http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150120/
nation-education/article/telangana-draws-its-
own-common-entrance-test-dates
8. http://www.sarvgyan.com/articles/tnea-
2015
9. http://admission.aglasem.com/entrance-
exams/common-entrance-exams/
10. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/
education/news/Maharashtra-back-to-CET-
for-engineering-from-next-year/article-
show/46239931.cms
11. http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-
as-maharashtra-government-sits-on-
22
state-cet-decision-jee-coaching-classes-
have-both-hands-full-2089513
12. http://cbseaff.nic.in/cbse_admin_aff/wri-
tereaddata/2015-16Circular/Circular/Cir-
cular%20No.20.pdf
13. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/
education/news/CBSE-bans-coaching-
for-JEE-schools-look-to-dodge-
rule/articleshow/31127829.cms
14. http://www.raoiit.com/tie-ups.php
15. http://www.business-standard.com/arti-
cle/management/iit-jee-format-a-boon-
for-coaching-schools-112070500020_1.
html
16. http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/
chennai/coaching-centres-score-after-jee-
changes/article4310297.ece
17. http://www.business-standard.com/article/
economy-policy/no-slowdown-for-iit-
coaching-institutes-despite-new-jee-pat-
tern-s-stress-on-xii-
114110600021_1.html
18. http://iitandkota.blogspot.in/p/15-tips-to-
cheat-at-mcqs-in-iit-jee.html
19. http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.
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computer-science-cornell
20. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/
india-others/bihar-cheating-happened-
last-year-too-no-one-noticed/
21. http://www.mid-day.com/articles/cheat-
ing-free-exams-not-possible-in-bihar-
says-bihar-education-minister/16076174
22. http://www.hindustantimes.com/education-
news/jee-mains-ranks-declared-normali-
zation-formula-frustrates-many-students/
article1-1238197.aspx
23. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130801/
jsp/nation/story_17182255.jsp#.VW1N-
v82Ud9N
24. http://www.isical.ac.in/~jeexiiscore_normal/
25. http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/users/dheeraj/
jee/ISI-report-aug11.pdf
26. http://www.hindustantimes.com/education-
news/iit-admn-reforms-panel-ignored-
experts-concerns/article1-882375.aspx
27. http://www.hindustantimes.com/high-
school/countrywide-girls-outshine-boys-
in-icse-and-isc-results/article1-1348426.
aspx
28. http://www.hindustantimes.com/high-
school/cbse-to-announce-class-12-results-
on-monday/article1-1350799.aspx
29. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/
mumbai/87-9-is-Maharashtra-HSC-best-
score-in-a-decade/articleshow/47449548.
cms
30. http://www.eenadunews.in/2015/05/tamil
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31. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/
education/news/New-poor-score-in-
CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 110, NO. 1, 10 JANUARY 2016
boards-Anything-less-than-
90/articleshow/47762882.cms
32. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
toi-edit-page/inflated-grades-deflated-
education/
33. http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publica-
tions/ASER%20Reports/ASER%202014/
fullaser2014mainreport_1.pdf
34. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/
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one-why-an-18-yr-old-signs-off-her-
note-mein-aaj-apni-life-khatam-karti-
hoon/
35. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/
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panic-calls-14-hr-days-morning-night-
mares/
36. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-
news-india/school-system-is-the-reason-
why-kota-will-remain-necessary-evil/
37. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/
states-not-centre-should-regulate-coach-
ing-centres-hrd-ministry-files-affidavit-
in-supreme-court/article6332125.ece
38. http://www.iitianspace.com/education-
abroad/mumbai-education-abroad.php
39. http://issues.org/18-2/atkinson-2/
40. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/
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39-in-bombay-faculty-short-across-iits/
41. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/
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shrunk-budgets-of-IITs-to-re-distribute-
these-to-create-new-IITs-Dr-VK-Saras-
wat/articleshow/49638346.cms
42. https://casi.sas.upenn.edu/iit/anuragmehra
or http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/
opinion/the-iits-have-lost-their-way/arti-
cle6350641.ece
43. http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/
the-impact-of-institutional-decay/article-
6410189.ece
44. http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-
news/NewDelhi/IIT-JEE-tilted-towards-
CBSE-4-cities/Article1-1109564.aspx
45. http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/iit
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highincome-students/1152700/0
46. http://forbesindia.com/blog/technology/iit-
jee-distortion-why-cbse-rich-urban-stud-
ents-fare-better
47. http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120609/
jsp/nation/story_15589082.jsp
Anurag Mehra is in the Department of
Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai
400 076, India.
e-mail: mehra@iitb.ac.in